So, after a long search, I finally acquired a potter's wheel. It's nothing too fancy, as you can probably tell from the photo, it's a Brent ie. Not super powerful, by any means, but I feel it will suit my needs just fine, for the foreseeable future.
The seller, had very few hours on it, and the thing is practically new. I still need to buy a splashpan, yes Jim a splashpan, as the one I am using now, I borrowed from the Brent kickwheel I have in my classroom. They won't miss it during the summer right?

So I've finally got the key item for my studio, to go with the kiln I've had for the past several years, though it's still not hooked up yet.

The wheel does sit low, so I'll be looking into solutions for raising it. In the meantime, my wife and I just got a new couch in our office, so the old one got demoted, to my studio. That room also happens to be the safest place, in the event of a strong storm, so we put it there, to have some comfort, in case we need to hunker down a while. Coincidentally, it happens to be the perfect height for the wheel. So I guess I can throw in style, until I get a stool and some booties for the wheel lined up.

Congrats. How do ya keep those hand so clean while pulling a cylinder ??? The wheel head hardly has any mess either. Are you sure you really need a splash pan?

Thanks.

I'll be honest though. My hands are fairly clean, because of a little bit of photographic staging on my part. The only person around was my three year old daughter, and I haven't taught her how to take photos yet. So I pulled the cylinder, then set the camera timer. I didn't put too much pressure on the clay, because I had to check the camera, in between shots.

I didn't even notice the wheel head was clean. It was a pretty small bit of clay, so I guess I just didn't use that much water.

I expected to see you in a Samurai outfit or something equally Oriental.
that is a comfy couch. My cat thinks I am a comfy couch whenI am throwing. She is banned from the hous e because our rescued dogs go crazy when they see a cat. she is a permenant studio cat. Your set up is coming along poco a poco.
Have a great summer.
Marcia
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I expected to see you in a Samurai outfit or something equally Oriental.that is a comfy couch. My cat thinks I am a comfy couch whenI am throwing. She is banned from the hous e because our rescued dogs go crazy when they see a cat. she is a permenant studio cat. Your set up is coming along poco a poco.Have a great summer.Marcia.

Thank you much.

Next step is getting some boards to make a proper wedging/ work table, and getting a utility sink in there.

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.Mark

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

I had a professor also who threw with a thimble of water, he had special bats made for these huge platters. He would take 25 lbs of clay and have it centered and thrown in minutes. I thought of a couple of cheap stools that might work, a height adjustable roll around stool for home mechanics are cheap or a stool for a drum set. Just make sure they have a locking wheel feature, have fun working on your studio. Denice

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.Mark

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

Famous potters from a bygone era, Nan and Jim McKinnel were the neatest potters I ever met (in both senses of word "neat"). I can still see Nan daintily wiping clay off her fingers with a handkerchief and Jim throwing with a bow tie on. I did a demo for one of their classes one time and when I walked in in cut-offs and t-shirt (that probably said something like "Legalize Marijuana Now!"), the class gasped.

Marcia, funny you would say something about your cat. For whatever reason, mine has quickly developed an interest in my throwing sponge. I left it in my water bucket, and I've had to take it from her twice. No idea, why she wants to carry a sopping wet sponge around.

Just for a different POV, try placing the wheel on 3 cinder blocks and stand to turn. You can adjust the wheel head height by adding some 1/4 in masonite scrapes under the wheel legs for extra height if needed.
I like the wheel head to be at around my belt level.
Turning while standing can help with back aches.
Hope this helps
Wyndham

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.Mark

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

Famous potters from a bygone era, Nan and Jim McKinnel were the neatest potters I ever met (in both senses of word "neat"). I can still see Nan daintily wiping clay off her fingers with a handkerchief and Jim throwing with a bow tie on. I did a demo for one of their classes one time and when I walked in in cut-offs and t-shirt (that probably said something like "Legalize Marijuana Now!"), the class gasped.

Jim

My district had a dress code for men-button shirts with ties, no jeans-pressed slacks. I usually tucked my tie, and often wore and apron-which they frowned on. One day I forgot the tuck, and it stuck on the clay, yanking my head to the wheel-thunk! I was lucky that I didn't pass out, just wiped my brow, took a few seconds of deep breath in front of 20 kids, tucked the tie and continued on. Lesson learned! After that the tie always got tucked! Wen through a lot of clothes that way!